europabarbarorumfandomcom-20200214-history
Akus Eporedoi (West Celt Light Cavalry)
Akus Eporedoi are comparatively well-trained, spear and javelin-armed Gallic light cavalry. Description (Ak-us E-po-red-oy - 'Swift Horsemen' or 'Fast Horsemen') Journey into a forest and you will find that not every tree is an imperious oak or mighty elm. The same is true of our warriors. Every man who sits atop a beast is not blue in blood and clad in gold. Just as the oak and elm, which command such heights in the forest, are surrounded by lesser trees, so too are our noble riders enveloped in a grove of mounted men of lesser stature. Though they be born without noble ancestry and titles to match, do not underestimate these lesser horse-borne warriors, for they are a fearsome breed. Into the fray they ride, swift as swallows and fierce as bears, as united and quick witted as a pack of wolves, a steel wielding, charging wave of warriors. It is these men, not their high born commanders, who carry the glory of the day, who chase down fleeing foes. It is these men, not their preening noble peers, who can be relied upon not to tire in the heat of battle. Light in armour and steeds they may be, but insignificant, unreliable and unwilling to serve they are not! Historically the horse was the most frequently depicted animal to appear on La Tène objects. The most numerous depictions of horses occur on coins, with only a few Gallic peoples minting coinage which did not display a horse, or mounted warriors, in some form. In addition to coinage, archaeology has recovered images of horses on sword scabbards, including one fine example from La Tène A itself, ceramic vessels such as those from the Marne region of northern Gaul, metal vessels such as the Gundestrup cauldron, and stone carvings like the example from the sanctuary at Roquepertuse. The reverence which horses were held in by Keltoi people is unlikely to been the result of the animal being held in high esteem alone. Numerous contemporaries of the Keltoi considered horses to be high status animals, yet chose not to depict them as frequently as the Keltoi did. Rather it seems that the enthusiasm which the Keltoi, and related peoples such as the Britons, had for horses stemmed from an underlying ritual reason. Although our knowledge of the Keltoi pantheon is not exhaustive, we do know of several deities. One of these, Epona, was particularly popular. Epona was closely associated with horses, to the point that the Romani later adopted her as a goddess of horses. For the Keltoi however her role appears to have been much more important. It appears, based on surviving accounts of later kingship rituals among the Irish tribes, that Epona was a goddess of the land itself. Although the prevalence of cavalry among Gallic armies from the 3rd century BC onward can be attributed in part to changes in warfare, we should not overlook the fact that, for the Keltoi speaking peoples, horses were considered not just animals of war, but divine symbols of the power of the land. Category:Units Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Aedui Category:Arverni